The present invention relates to apparatus, systems and methods, which allow a location of a portable telephone to be obtained from a remote location in a background operation mode.
Portable telephones, particularly in the form of current cellular telephones, are well known. In addition, several companies have disclosed and are proceeding with plans for a network of low-orbiting satellites which will allow communication from portable telephones from almost anywhere in the world, without relying on the multiple call regions or xe2x80x9ccellsxe2x80x9d in a cellular telephone system. Portable devices which allow a user to determine their location particularly based on various satellite positioning systems, are also now known. Such systems are generally referred to as Global Positioning Systems (xe2x80x9cGPSxe2x80x9d). These systems use signals from a series of satellites which allow a portable receiver (i.e. a GPS receiver) on earth to determine its position with a fairly high degree of accuracy.
It is often desirable for one individual to know the location of another. It would be desirable if a first person can conveniently find the location of a second person who might be carrying a portable telephone, without the first person having to call the second person on the portable telephone and interrupt the second person. For example, the second person might be in a meeting and would not consider it convenient to even have a first person call them just to ask where they are, although they might still like to receive on their portable telephone calls for other purposes. Of course, the second person would have no way of knowing whether a call to their portable telephone was for some important reason (e.g. a business call) or just a call from a relative or friend to ask where they are and when they might be home.
The present invention provides a means by which individuals can obtain the location of a portable telephone user by providing the portable telephone with a position locator, such a GPS receiver. The present invention further recognizes that in many situations it is desirable that the portable telephone user not be disturbed to answer a call just to report their location to a spouse, friend, or the like. Therefore, the present invention provides a means by which the portable telephone user can continue to receive other calls to their portable telephone as usual. Further, the present invention provides a means by which calls for location requests only can be directly routed to a position locator on the portable telephone, and the location information automatically supplied to the caller from the position locator on the portable telephone, all without disturbing the portable telephone user.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention then, there is provided a portable telephone capable of background location transmission response, comprising:
a) a position locator which, in response to a location request signal, can determine the location of the portable telephone and generate a corresponding location signal;
b) a receiver to receive an incoming call signal and an incoming location request signal;
c) a user interface having:
an audio or visual user output device which can reproduce audio or visual information in an incoming call signal as a corresponding audio or visual display; and
an audio user input device which generates an audio output signal corresponding to a user""s voice;
d) an alert generator which, in response to a received incoming call signal, generates a first physical characteristic to indicate an incoming call to a user of the portable telephone,
e) a location request detector which, in response to a received location request signal, can direct the location request signal to the position locator without activating the alert generator;
f) a transmitter to transmit a location signal generated by the position locator in response to a received location request signal, and to transmit the audio output signal.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a telephone system capable of providing data communication between any of a plurality of first telephones and a remote portable telephone, and capable of location response, comprising:
a) a portable telephone having:
(i) a position locator which can determine the location of the portable telephone and generate a corresponding location signal;
(ii) a receiver to receive an incoming location request signal;
(iii) a user interface having:
an audio or visual user output device which can reproduce audio or visual information in an incoming call signal as a corresponding audio or visual display; and
an audio user input device which generates an audio output signal corresponding to a user""s voice;
(iv) a location request detector which, in response to a received location request signal, can direct the location request signal to the position locator; and
(v) a transmitter to transmit a location signal generated by the position locator in response to a received location request signal;
b) a centralized base station having:
(i) means for receiving from any calling one of the plurality of first telephones, an incoming location request signal;
(ii) a transceiver to transmit an incoming location request signal to the portable telephone, and to receive a location signal from the portable telephone;
(iii) a location identification means for determining the location of the calling one of the first telephones from a caller identification carried by the incoming signal;
(iv) a comparator for determining the distance between the location received from the portable telephone and the location of the calling one of the first telephones, and generating a resulting distance signal or estimated travel time signal; and
(v) means for forwarding the distance signal or estimated travel time signal to the calling one of the first telephones or the portable telephone.
In a still further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of communicating with a portable telephone and obtaining a background location transmission response from the portable telephone, comprising:
a) communicating a call signal from a first telephone to a centralized base station through a first network through which any of a plurality of first telephones can communicate with the centralized base station;
b) transmitting an incoming call signal received from a first telephone at the base station, from the centralized base station to the portable telephone;
b) receiving the incoming call signal at the portable telephone;
c) activating an alert generator on the portable telephone in response to the received incoming call signal, so as to generate a first physical characteristic to indicate an incoming call to a user of the portable telephone;
c) transmitting an audio output signal corresponding to a user""s voice, from the portable telephone to the centralized base station;
d) communicating a location request signal from a first telephone through the first network to the centralized base station;
e) transmitting an incoming location request signal received from a first telephone at the base station, from the centralized base station to the portable telephone;
f) receiving the location request signal at the portable telephone;
g) directing the location request signal to a position locator on the portable telephone without activating the alert generator, which position locator can determine the location of the portable telephone and generate a corresponding location signal;
c) transmitting the location signal from the portable telephone to the centralized base station;
d) communicating location information corresponding to the location signal, from the centralized base station to the first telephone which communicated the location request to the base station.
The present invention then, provides a convenient means by which an individual can obtain the location of a user of a portable telephone automatically and without disturbing that user by requiring them to answer a call just for their location. The alert generator on the portable telephone which signals a user of a normal incoming telephone call, is bypassed automatically upon detection of a location request signal and the position locator communicates the position information also automatically to the caller. Further, the present invention additionally provides means by which a street location and/or the distance between the caller and the portable telephone user can also be automatically reported to the caller, rather than just other location information (such as geographic location only) which might be generated by the position locator on the portable telephone.